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For the first time, a Black American is being honored with a state-commissioned statue in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Each of the states gets to contribute two statues of prominent citizens for permanent display in the hall and now one of Florida’s contributions is a likeness of educator, humanitarian, and civil rights pioneer Mary McLeod Bethune.
Born to formerly enslaved parents in 1875, Bethune went on to found a private school in Daytona, Florida, for African-American students that would later become Bethune-Cookman University. She was also the sole Black woman to officially be a part of the U.S. delegation that created the United Nations.
The unveiling of the statue was attended by a bi-partisan collection of congressional leaders as well as other lawmakers and activists. The decision to honor Bethune with a statue in the hall was made in 2018 and it is replacing one of a Confederate general.
Source: CNN